Thanks for sharing SilverMoonsong. It sounds like planning for snacks might help dampen the siren call of the kitchen. Being newly retired, there are more temptations than I was used to when I worked. Living with a sportive family (I am the exception that proves the rule), all three of whom eat like horses and burn off every calorie, it is impossible to avoid having snacks around. I am looking for different ways of building up my will power. The planned snacks might help. I will definitely give it a try.

I noticed you are from North Carolina. I lived there for eleven years - Greensboro, Charlotte and Davidson. It is a beautiful state!

SilverMoonsong, I worked overnight for 26 years. When I retired, I had a terrible problem with insomnia. I still can't sleep at night.

Being diabetic, I also have to eat something every 3 hours. A small apple, carrot, or a handful of raisins works for me. Before I got adjusted, was just eating too large of portions 5 times a day.

Once I realized that was the problem, I scaled down. I'm maintaining my weight, but it's still too high. I recently tried some of the bottled diet drinks, Boost, Ensure, they come in chocolate flavors. Some are especially for diabetics, but they are expensive. I substitute one bottle for a meal, once in awhile.

This week I lost another pound, making me 9 stone 10 and a half pounds. That's 4 and a quarter pounds off in the month of January I can not recommend enough to have the "goodies" stored in a basically inaccessible place, somewhere where you really WANT to get at them. Me and Mum store the "Christmas goodies" (Chocolates, biscuits, cakes etc) in the shed/outhouse. Because if they come into the house, they will be eaten a lot sooner!

_________________________ My mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open.

It's been hard to stay away from sweets for me, but it's a matter of health. That does make it easier.

I try to visualize the little sweet calories going into my bloodstream causing havoc and fat to block my arteries. Kind of comical, but it works for me. Suddenly that piece of cake looks like the enemy.

As you can tell, I'm still not into the diet phase. Renovation of our bathroom started this week and is proving to be quite stressful. Water from a pipe burst (the reason for the renovation) had seeped into an enclosed part of one wall, which turned out to be too badly damaged to save. When the wall came down, we discovered a large space behind it. That was a good surprise, because we have been able to rework plans to incorporate it. Unfortunately, other surprises were not so good, such as finding out that existing piping could not be used and that the contractor had failed to take into account the extra width of another new wall when determining the size of the sink we could have. We are finding creative solutions, but it is definitely hard on the nerves. Every time that the head workman says he needs to see me, I cringe. The constant jackhammer doesn't help. Add to that about 30 cm of snow in the garden and subfreezing temperatures, with the doors constantly open as the workmen move back and forth with debris and materials.

I'll confess, mid-week I broke down and had a fast food hamburger and fries as a much needed treat!

The Monday walk had to be postponed until this weekend, but otherwise the exercising is going well.

I have put on a LOT of weight over the past four years. I think it's a combination of getting older, quitting smoking, and going back to school. Well, not going back to school per se, but the residence forcing us to buy outrageously expensive meal plans and then keeping whatever we don't spend at the end of the year. Talk about incentive to buy loads of junk!

I joined a gym last week and I plan to go 3x per week for the first couple of months (plus my volleyball game Thursdays). After it feels more routine I'd like to step it up and go an extra day, but I think I need to work up to it. I don't want to over-exert myself right at the beginning and either injure myself or become put off by it. I REALLY want to take some of this weight off! I refuse to diet though. I don't mind if it takes me longer to shed the weight, but I don't think I have the willpower to change my lifestyle so completely all at once. I think as long as I cut out the junk and eat sensible portions and snack on healthy things, I should be fine, in the long run.

I'm so happy to have found this discussion! I don't have much of a support network here, with my Mom living so far away and I haven't met many girl friends in my new city yet.

Good luck to all of you!

_________________________Chan fhiach cuirm gun a comhradh.A feast is no use without good talk.

I'm glad you're joining in. I think it really motivates to have a place to share the challenges and successes.

Like you, my weight moved upwards significantly these past five or six years. I spent a lot of time behind a desk - my exercise limited to moving from house to car and from the car to my office, in the same building, and back again. During the day, my only walking was to the other end of the office to consult with colleagues. I at least avoided calling or texting so that I would get some steps in. I usually worked for lunch, stopping only long enough to grab a sandwich or pasta dish in the same block. My mind was moving around the globe with my work, but body was vegetating. Not healthy! A real recipe for disaster.

I took early retirement at the end of December and my primary retirement goal is to slowly get the weight off and to get the body moving again. I am really stiff, so have to go slowly.

Pitegny> Stress is definitely a diet-killer. Having one burger and order of fries won't kill you, though.:) Just remember, exercise is good for getting rid of the stress

Ren> How far, or how long, do you walk? What types of food are you eating? Have you been watching your fat and sodium intake? And WHY do I not have you in my network on LoseIt? If I could see some of what you are doing, I might be able to give you better advice.

If anyone wants to find me on LoseIt, let me know and I'll send you my Screen name privately.

On a happy note, I've just made it over the -50 pound mark. YAY! Yesterday, while sitting around at the audition (waiting for hours), I showed my friend my passport photo (which is a little less than a year old). The changes are so amazing, I've been told it might be a good idea to get another photo done because they might not let me cross the border.

Ren - 2 pounds in two weeks sounds pretty good to me. If you keep going at that rate you could drop ten pounds in a little over two months. They say that if you lose slowly, it will stay off. I dropped 18 pounds very quickly three years ago and put it all back plus some for good measure. This time I am going for permanent loss.

SilverMoonsong - congratulations on your progress. You are a real inspiration. If I can lose that amount I will be very happy. I have a subscription to Weight Watchers France on-line. It is easier to go with that because it includes many of the products I buy locally, otherwise I'd join LoseIt. It looks good.

I have started some daily dancing - fifteen to twenty minutes. Really slow pace, but it is keeping me moving and I find the music motivating. With lots of snow and ice outside and temperatures only reaching a high of -6 degrees C and lows of -14 degrees C (21 F/7F) today, it is good to have some inside exercise. I am also walking on the walker, so keeping that going as well.

It is too bad that the mental energy that goes into playing the daily FT quizzes doesn't burn more calories!

SilverMoonsong - congratulations on your progress. You are a real inspiration. If I can lose that amount I will be very happy. I have a subscription to Weight Watchers France on-line. It is easier to go with that because it includes many of the products I buy locally, otherwise I'd join LoseIt. It looks good.

I have started some daily dancing - fifteen to twenty minutes. Really slow pace, but it is keeping me moving and I find the music motivating. With lots of snow and ice outside and temperatures only reaching a high of -6 degrees C and lows of -14 degrees C (21 F/7F) today, it is good to have some inside exercise. I am also walking on the walker, so keeping that going as well.

It is too bad that the mental energy that goes into playing the daily FT quizzes doesn't burn more calories!

Thank you! I still have a ways to go, though. If the Weight-Watchers is what works for you, then by all means, use it! I tried several different things before finding LoseIt.

Dancing is fantastic! And yes, start slow, but keep moving. By the time it warms up, you'll be ready to get out and start walking.

If I burned more calories on FT, I'd spend more time sitting in the chair playing quizzes and less time at the gym.

Rennnnn!!!! Stick it out!!! It takes about 4 weeks for your body to get used to the change in diet, and then things should start moving in the right direction. In the meantime look on it this way: 2lbs less to worry about, and the first baby step on the way to the new you!

It took me three weeks on the weight-watchers diet before the weight began to come off, and even then it was usually about 800g à week (about 1.5 lbs). However, after a year and a half, the weight that came off so slowly has stayed off! I still need to lose a bit more, but so long as I don't start putting it back on I reckon I'm still in a win-win situation!

The key is most definitely sticking to it! Take it slowly, and remember any loss at all is better than a gain, eh?

Go on, I know you can do it!!!

Sounds as if you are keeping your motivation high, pitengy! Little and often, that's a great way to go! You use a treadmill? It's gotta be better than the stationery bike! I hate mine with a vengeance and am really finding it hard to force myself to pedal away this year, though last winter I 'cycled' for 90 minutes every single day that I couldn't get out for a long walk. It works, but I so much prefer walking, and have been wondering about getting myself a treadmill. Anybody got any experience on one to convince me either way?

Santana: I like the treadmill or walker that we have now. We had a non-electric one for a long time, but I did not like or use it because it took an incredibly effort to get the thing going and to keep it going. For someone more fit, I guess that's part of the point of the exercise. For me, it was disuasive.

Some months back my family upgraded to one with an electricity-driven belt in hopes of encouraging me to be more regular. That made all the difference. I just have to hop on, push a button and walk. Now that I am retired I am actually using it. When I build up endurance, I will be able to increase the slope and resistance, but for now I am walking on a zero slope, just as I am when walking outside. I actually get in the car and drive to somewhere flat to do my walking.

The males in the family have created a workout room in the basement with weights and a bike like yours. None of them appealed to me and hence I avoided them like the plague. The treadmill is a good beginning solution for me, since I am way out of shape and as stiff as a board.

Welcome LadyC, I hope you don't mind my keyboard is very touchy, and I have to shorten some names.

I confess, it's been cold here and I haven't exercised as I outlined. Until yesterday, I was doing well on my food portions. My brother, the traitor brought in some Twizzlers for me. Not as hi cal as some things, but still un-needed extra calories.

Looking for a few bucks back on my tax return and plan to make use of my gym membership. Walking in a pool is easy on the joints and burns calories faster. Only the gas money has kept me from it.

Two days until I see my actual weight, that may scare me into fasting!

I was a pound down earlier this week, but don't think I will be tomorrow when I weigh officially. My husband came back from a business trip to Paris with a small box of chocolates for me. I looked longingly at it for a bit and told myself I would resist, but my resolve lasted all of twenty minutes. I told myself I would just taste one since he went out of his way to find some he thought I would like. Unfortunately it was delicious, so I convinced myself that just one more would not hurt. A few chocolates later, I decided it would be better to get rid of the temptation at one go, so I ate the whole box. (You didn't think I was going to throw them away!). I am stepping a lot today in hopes of making up for it, but am realistic enough to know that I undid most of the week's efforts in a single day. It is a good thing that he is also retiring, so there will be no more chocolates coming home.

SilverMoonsong: That is absolutely amazing! Congratulations. You are inspiring and you deserved every M&M! I bet they taste better now than they did before!

We are still freezing cold here, so outside walking isn't possible. They say we might break the freezing point sometime on Monday, but even that is pretty cold for me. I am keeping up with my indoor exercising, but it is not quite the same.

I have a cooking lesson with friends tonight at a local French restaurant which has been planned for weeks. The food will not exactly be calorie free, so I have balanced off the rest of the day with low fat yogurt and cereal.

Cooking is a passion that I am trying to channel into dishes that are lower in calories and fat. I am an avid pinner of recipes, so I can still look at the pictures of the lush desserts on my Pinterest board, but am trying to cook from my grains, vegetables and "guilty free" boards. Last night was a lemon and garlic baked chicken, which was tasty, but relatively low calorie.